That Time of The Month
by ForNevermore
Summary: Most of the time it's not so bad having so many sisters, but it's always hell for at least five days a month. Or, how having ten sisters had fully prepared Lincoln Loud for when his girlfriend was on her period.


That Time of The Month

 **I should probably explain one thing before I continue. I come from a family with five kids. Of those five kids, four of us are girls. I feel sorry for my brother being the only boy, he has to deal with us. Most of the time it isn't that bad living with so many sisters, but it's always hell for at least five days a month. So when I saw this show for the first time I felt so bad for Lincoln. I mean, he has to deal with this except like, times ten. Good lord, can you imagine the amount of pads this family probably goes through? *shudders in terror* Once this horrifying scenario was in my head, I could not get it out. So I wrote a one-shot, I hope you guys like it.**

 **If you don't like period pieces, I suggest you stop reading now.**

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He was six years old when he woke up to the sound of his oldest sister screaming in the bathroom. Twelve-year-old Lori was crying, her voice panicked, screaming that she was dying. Lincoln pressed his ear to the bathroom door, anxiously listening to his sister's hysteria and his mother's calming words. The fact that his mother was levelheaded about the situation eased some of his nerves. But there wasn't much he and his siblings could do but stand out in the hallway. Lincoln studied the faces of his sisters, each seemed just as scared and confused as the next. They knew that Lori had been moodier lately, she had been throwing fits a lot more, but none of them had ever heard Lori this distraught before. The fact that nobody had the faintest clue as to what was happening to their older sister made it even scarier.

"Should we call an ambulance?" Lincoln had asked after a few minutes of listening to his sister's wailing.

"No need, sweetheart." His father told him calmly, gently patting him on the head. "This is a normal thing, she'll be fine."

A normal thing? Lincoln didn't quite understand. His sister was screaming bloody murder and his father was telling him that this was normal. None of his other sisters were screaming. In fact, they seemed just as befuddled he did. His father's words did seem to calm the Loud siblings, they seemed less panicked and more curious now.

Eventually, Lori's wailing stopped, and Mrs. Loud exited the bathroom looking slightly frazzled.

"Is everything okay now?" Mr. Loud asked his wife, putting an arm around her comfortingly.

Mrs. Loud nodded. "It's her first, she's just a bit freaked out."

A few minutes later, Lori exited the bathroom. Her eyes were red and puffy, her cheeks were stained with dried up tears. But she was okay, she looked fine. The rest of the Loud siblings immediately bombarded her with questions, but Lori ignored them and went to her bedroom. The Loud siblings knew better than to bother Lori when she was in a mood, so they slowly dispersed, going about their day as they normally would. But Lincoln couldn't fathom what had happened to his sister, why had she been so distraught. The young boy turned to his mother.

"What happened?" He questioned, his wide eyes filled with innocence.

Mrs. Loud smiled down at her son and gently kissed his forehead.

"You'll understand one day." She replied calmly.

That wasn't enough to satisfy his curiosity, but he nodded and went about his day anyways. He wondered why Lori spent the next few days lying on the couch with a warm pack on her stomach, but he simply assumed that she was feeling ill. He didn't question anything further. A few days later, Lori was better and everything was forgotten.

Until of course, the day he woke up to hear Leni screaming. He was seven at the time, and hearing another one of his sisters screaming had frightened him. Until he realised that Leni wasn't scared or in pain. In fact, the blonde seemed elated.

"I'm just like Lori now!" She exclaimed, jumping up and down in the bathroom.

"Trust me, you won't feel like that for long." Lori replied, handing her younger sister the warm pack and a bottle of Advil.

Lori was right. The next day Leni was crying on her bed, clutching her stomach, while her mother gently stroked her hair.

"I know," Mrs. Loud whispered calmly. "Being a girl sucks."

Lincoln was still confused and curious as to what was going on with his sisters. His father had assured them that they were not ill, that they would be fine soon, but that didn't stop his concern. His father had suggested that they make Leni a cup of hot tea, that tea always helped during times like these. So they did. And when Lincoln handed Leni the warm mug she smiled and gave him a tight hug.

The next time he made tea for a sister he was eight years old and heard Luna crying in the bathroom. Lori was babysitting them while their parents were out, but the fourteen-year-old was more interested in texting her new boyfriend than helping her sister. While Lincoln still didn't know what caused his sister's tears, he was smart enough to know that the same thing that happened to Lori and Leni was now happening to Luna. He knocked on the bathroom door and waited for his sister to dry her eyes. When Luna opened the bathroom door her eyes were red and puffy and her face was contorted in pain. She looked down at her brother, who was holding up the steaming mug, the pain on her face slowly melted away and was replaced by a gracious smile.

"Thanks, bro." Luna said appreciatively, accepting the warm mug and heading off to her bedroom.

"You're going to be really good at this one day." He heard someone remark.

He turned his head to find Leni standing in the hallway, her arms crossed, a small smile on her face.

"Good at what?" He inquired, raising an eyebrow at her remark.

Lincoln racked his brain, trying to figure out what Leni had meant. But he couldn't figure it out. All he was doing was helping his sister when she was feeling unwell. He knew they would do the same for him.

"Nothing." Leni replied with a mischevious smile before retreating back to her room.

A year later, it was Luan's turn to receive a hot mug of tea from her brother. While Luan didn't cry or scream, Lincoln knew that something was wrong because she hadn't made a single joke all day. She was lying on the living room couch wrapped up in a fuzzy blanket when Lincoln handed her the mug.

"How did you know?" Luan chided, taking a sip of the scorching beverage. "Could you get me some chocolate as well?"

"Chocolate?" Lincoln asked.

"It helps." Luan told him with a shrug.

He brought her the chocolate and sat down next to her on the couch. He watched as his sister slowly rubbed her lower belly, her face didn't register any pain, but once in a while she would groan and clench her teeth.

"What _is_ wrong?" Lincoln finally asked.

Luan smiled at him.

"You're a bit too young to know." She replied.

He accepted her answer then. But by the time he was ten, he thought that he had the right to know why his sisters were getting sick.

Lynn had been crying, but not out of pain, but because Mr. and Mrs. Loud wouldn't let her go to her baseball game.

"I'm not even in that much pain!" She exclaimed, grabbing her bat from where it sat by her bed.

"Lynn, please relax," Her mother soothed. "It will be worse if you're tense."

Mrs. Loud had been right, a few minutes later Lynn had curled into the fetal position on her bed. She said that it hurt too much to move. It was hard not to worry for her, no matter how many people told him not to. He wanted to help, but knew that there was not much that he could do besides make tea. Lincoln entered Lynn's room to find her asleep, so he left her tea on her bedside table along with a little note that read "Get Well Soon." He was about to leave when he noticed that her bedsheets had been stripped and they were lying in a heap on the floor. That was odd. Why were her sheets on the floor? Lincoln moved closer to the discarded sheets, only to realise there were red splotches on Lynn's bedsheets. Lincoln's face immediately turned white as he dashed out of the room, nearly colliding with Lisa as he did.

"Are you alright, Lincoln?" His younger sister asked.

Although Lisa was very young, she was a child genius and had a full vocabulary. She looked up at her brother curiously, immediately noticing the look of distress on his face.

"There is blood on Lynn's bed." Lincoln panicked. "What do we do? Do we call her an ambulance? Why is she bleeding?"

Lisa didn't react, she simply adjusted her glasses and let out a long breath.

"Come with me." Lisa beckoned, wandering off to her room.

Lincoln did as he was told, wondering why his younger sister wasn't in the least bit phased by the fact that Lynn might be hurt. However, Lisa was a genius. She obviously knew exactly what was wrong with Lynn. The fact that Lisa was calm assured Lincoln that Lynn was going to be alright, he allowed himself to relax as his sister started her lecture.

"I don't understand why nobody ever told you," Lisa sighed. "You have ten sisters, you should know these things."

"So they're not sick?" Lincoln confirmed. He was relieved, to say the least.

"No," Lisa assured him. "This is a normal biological thing for girls."

"Just for girls?" Lincoln clarified.

Lisa nodded.

"I'm quite surprised that you haven't learned about this in health class," Lisa continued. "The health education system in this country isn't very good, but luckily for you, you have me."

Lisa pulled a book off of her shelf, a large textbook nearly half her size.

"Just a warning," She told him, taking a seat on her bed. "This can be a bit disgusting."

Lincoln nodded and took a seat next to her on the bed. Lisa flipped through the text book and landed on a specific page. A couple of illustrations graced the page, marked with words like "uterus" and "cervix." They were words that he recognized, but he wasn't quite sure what they meant.

"I trust you already know the reproductive system?" Lisa inquired.

Lincoln nodded, he knew where babies came from, especially after his mother had so many of them.

"Perfect," Lisa continued. "Now, usually between the ages of eleven and thirteen, girls begin to experience a phenomenon called menstruation. It is how the body gets rid of eggs that have not been fertilized. This process is repeated once every month for about three to five days until the girl is about fifty-one years of age."

Lincoln's mouth fell open when he heard that. Bleeding for that long sounded nasty, nasty and horrific. He didn't even know the human body had that much blood. The thought sent a shiver up his spine and a wave of nausea passed over him. Lisa noticed her brother turning white as a sheet.

"Would you like me to stop?" She asked. Lincoln shook his head, he had no idea how his sister could be so calm talking about this. The young genius cleared her throat and continued. "It is a rather unpleasant process, as the lining of the uterus is being pulled apart and the tissue is expelled, causing the girl to bleed and resulting in cramps."

Lincoln cringed, that did sound disgusting. He couldn't even begin to imagine bleeding for three to five days and then having to repeat that every month for forty years. He couldn't imagine how his sisters felt. They were going through all of this, cramps, bloating, nausea, pain. And they had to live with it every month. He felt bad for them, he hated to see them in so much pain.

"And that happens every month?" He wondered aloud.

"Affirmative." Lisa nodded.

"Wow." Lincoln sighed. "Is there anything I can do to help them?"

"You're already helping by bringing them tea," Lisa replied. "The warm liquid loosens up the muscles and helps the flow. Chocolate also helps, so do warm packs, blankets, painkillers. Oh, and it's important to drink plenty of water."

Lincoln nodded and silently promised that he would always be there to help his sisters, to make their lives a little easier. Although that talk with Lisa had repulsed him, Lincoln was glad that he now had a better understanding of what was going on. He became even more generous when his sisters were in pain. He made insane amounts of tea for them every month, bought them chocolate, and brought them Midol when their cramps were bad. By the time he was sixteen, he had made more than a few trips to the supermarket to buy tampons. He never complained or refused, he didn't care about what people might think about a boy buying feminine hygiene products. He remembered getting more than a few crude looks from other men, as though him buying tampons somehow made him less of a man. But more than once a woman would smile at him and tell him that he was a good person for helping out the women in his life. He didn't care what anyone said, he only cared that his sisters were happy.

Then one day, when he was seventeen, he received a phone call from his girlfriend. He and Ronnie were supposed to go see a movie, but she called him saying that she wasn't feeling well.

"Are you alright?" He had asked. "It's not contagious, is it?"

"No," Ronnie had replied, she sounded as though she was in pain. "It's not that, it's just a girl thing."

A girl thing. Lincoln was relieved that she wasn't sick, but he felt bad that she had to miss out on going to the movies because she was in pain.

"How about I come over?" He offered. "I'll bring you anything you need."

He could practically hear his girlfriend smiling through the phone.

"Alright," She replied. "I like the chocolates with caramel inside."

Lincoln smiled. "I know."

A half hour later, Lincoln arrived at her house, a small shopping bag in his hand. Ronnie was lying on the couch in the living room, wrapped up like a burrito in blankets, two pillows piled under her head. She was wearing sweatpants and her hair hadn't been brushed, but Lincoln still thought that she was cute. She shifted slightly on the couch so that he would have room to sit down. She winced at the pain, moving hurt, doing anything hurt. Lincoln smiled at her and gently brushed the hair out of her face.

"'Bout time you showed up." The girl growled.

Lincoln smiled at her and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead.

"I brought the chocolate you asked for." He told her, digging through the plastic bag he brought with him.

Ronnie's face lit up when Lincoln handed her the chocolate bar. She ripped open the wrapper with her teeth and took a bite, she let out a soft groan.

"Thank you." She replied, her mouth filled with chocolate.

"I also brought tea," Lincoln continued, taking out a canteen filled with the hot beverage. "And Midol, a bottle of water, some hot soup, this special scarf thing to tie around your head, and a heat pack for your stomach."

Ronnie's eyes widened as Lincoln unloaded the items onto the small coffee table. She was impressed, she had never known any guy that was this prepared for when a woman was on her period. She took the scarf and wrapped it firmly around her head and opened the canteen, the smell of hot tea wafted from the container. She gently blew on the hot liquid and took a sip, she was beginning to feel better already.

"And finally," He pulled one last item from the bag, a DVD. "I know that it's not the movie we wanted to see, but I think it's the next best thing."

Ronnie didn't say anything for a moment. She didn't know what to say. Nobody had ever gone through this much trouble for her before, it was sweet. She hadn't realized that she was staring until her boyfriend gave her a curious look.

"What?" He inquired.

Ronnie didn't respond, she simply grabbed the boy and kissed him. She smiled against his lips, she had never felt this good while in so much pain.

"You're good at this." She breathed when she finally let go of him.

Lincoln smiled at her. If there was one benefit to having ten sisters, it was that they had fully prepared him for when his girlfriend was on her period.

* * *

 **I hope you all enjoyed this one-shot. I don't usually write one-shots, I like long plot stuff better.**

 **I did the math because I'm weird, and if every girl uses 4-5 pads per day for a five day period, then that means the Loud girls (plus their mom) could use anywhere between 200 and 250 pads per month. I usually pay ten dollars for a pack of 36 pads, and the Loud family would need 5, or maybe even 7, boxes which means this family is paying 50 to 70 dollars a month on pads.**

 **I should probably explain that all of the Loud girls got their periods at the same age because that happened to me and my sisters, we all got it at twelve. That's probably not true for most families, all girls get theirs at different points in their lives. I know some girls who got it at nine and others who didn't get it until they were almost fifteen. Sorry about the gross period talk...**

 **Have a good day everybody!**


End file.
